I am afraid that most people dont WANT to understand and they have a right to behave that way. This topic is quite old.
"The truth is not for all men but only for those who seek it"
Ayn Rand
Tao Te Ching (chapter 75),
written on bamboo strips in 4th century before Christ (around 24 centuries before #Bitcoin )
This article of Daniel Lacalle reveals the ultimate goal behind CBDCs (and KYC regulations on #Bitcoin ) >> not just to follow abstract collectivist ideas, but mainly to gain more control on private lives in order to reduce the chances of escape.
"If the ECB and the Fed really want a digital currency is because they know they will lose the confidence of citizens earlier than we think and they need to impose their market share, not gain it."
FUNGIBILITY in #Bitcoin is essential to prevent that State market share from being imposed on us by force.
https://mises.org/mises-wire/central-bank-digital-currencies-would-bring-hyperinflation
“We’re all bored now. But has it ever occurred to you, Wally, that the process that creates this boredom that we see in the world now may very well be a self-perpetuating unconscious form of brainwashing created by a world totalitarian government based on money and that all of this is much more dangerous than one thinks and it’s not just a question of individual survival, Wally, but that somebody who’s bored is asleep and somebody who’s asleep will not say no?” - Andre Gregory in 1981’s My Dinner With Andre
Watch the whole clip at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEkYwYSVAl8
nostr:npub1hqaz3dlyuhfqhktqchawke39l92jj9nt30dsgh2zvd9z7dv3j3gqpkt56s
Boredom is something as old as man and a common theme in Philosophy and Literature... vb in Goethe's Faust. It is generally more interesting to look within ourselves before looking for world governments in the shadows.
Snowden issues a FINAL warning about the increasing and advanced attacks on #Bitcoin privacy.
https://news.bitcoin.com/snowden-issues-final-warning-to-bitcoin-developers-on-privacy-enhancements
Too dramatic ?? Probably not... without FUNGIBILITY, bitcoin will easily be whatever governments want it to be.
Keep calm and HODL #Bitcoin.
Everyone seems to be overreacting to the Samourai arrests, the FBI PSA, and Phoenix leaving the US. Here's my attempt to break it down.
Samourai
You have to unpack all of the different elements. Could this be a state attack on self-custody and privacy? Maybe. Probably not.
There are a few components here that need to be evaluated on their own.
1⃣ Samourai was a self-custodial wallet
2⃣ Samourai was a mixer
3⃣ Samourai was providing normal people with privacy
4⃣ Samourai were knowingly marketing the service to criminals and flaunting that fact
Reading the charges, it seems like #4 is pretty cut and dry for this case. Their getting arrested for #4, doesn't automatically mean #1, #2, #3 are under siege as well. If Samourai was a taco stand laundering money and bragging about it, I'm sure they would be taken down too.
They may be accused of running a money transmitter now, but that may or may not stick. We'll find out in the trial.
All that said, we should always be vigilant to attempts to erode privacy and the ability to self-custody. It just does not seem that this fight is *that* fight.
FBI PSA
Seems pretty normal that the FBI would advise people to use compliant services, and the entire announcement seems to revolve around potential disruptions due to Samourai being taken down, and potentially others in the future. Given they took action, they have to post some bulletin about it.
Remember that when people lose funds or have funds stolen from them, they do go to the FBI for help. From their point of view, the best thing for people to do is use compliant services where they can potentially help.
The announcement concludes saying that services that purposely break the law will be investigated - so again we go back to #4 above. This is nothing new, and self-custody is not being criminalized.
Phoenix Leaving
As nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m said, it's feels completely unnecessary. Phoenix obviously is not a MSB and they are not doing anything illegal. In my view, their exit from the US app stores is a complete overreaction.
Keep Calm
Could "they" come after wallets, developers, mixers, nodes, LSPs, sidechains, eCash, VPNs, encryption, etc? It's totally possible. But if you're not breaking the law, you have nothing to worry about.
To my knowledge, there is still rule of law in the US, property rights are still protected, and privacy is enshrined in the Bill of Rights (nostr:npub1trr5r2nrpsk6xkjk5a7p6pfcryyt6yzsflwjmz6r7uj7lfkjxxtq78hdpu).
It would be very difficult to change the law or stretch it to incriminate these things because it's all just information and software, which is speech. Some will try. But as they are trying, #Bitcoin is becoming more and more mainstream and integral to the world's financial system.
#Bitcoin is freedom technology and it will continue on.
Go outside this weekend and think about why you're here.
"But if you're not breaking the law, you have nothing to worry about" ... I could agree with most of your post, but this sentence is quite unfortunate.
This last week Bitcoin suffered -in my opinion- the worst blow of his lifetime, because FUNGIBILITY IS ESSENTIAL for Bitcoin to be a true alternative to the fiat system. And mixing tools like coinjoin are the main (if not the only) way to stop the increasing attacks to that fungibility.
To criminalize the Samourai developers will have and is ALREADY having serious consequences in the use of these tools, so there is MUCH to worry about.
Snowden saw this really fast and the very same day he wrote: "The way to fix this it to make money private by default." I agree 100%, it is the way.
Before calling to anger, maybe we would need to know what "Justice" is (not what is fair for me... or for him). The idea of Justice that gives Aquinas is a bit of a circular definition, it doesnt help very much